Mary Eckert of Endicott was very traditional, very domestic, very old-fashioned in the best sense of the word, her daughters say.

Old-fashioned, in that sense, means someone who knows the value of work, the value of family, the value of faith, and in the course of nearly a century, has learned how to practice those values.

A daughter of immigrants, whose mother never became a citizen, Mary had a strong sense of community service. She was involved in the parent-teacher association for George H. Nichols Elementary, including serving as president, as well as on the Union-Endicott board of education.

Mary was a world traveler, often with her two sisters. She set foot on four continents, sometimes for the thrill of seeing new places, other times for a higher purpose. Annual pilgrimages to the shrines in Montreal and Trois-Rivieres, Canada, were a nearly 30-year ritual, her daughters said.

Mary died July 3 at 97. She outlived most of her friends and immediate family, but nearly a century led to a large legacy that stretches over the next four generations. In addition to daughters Beverly Lorenz and Marilyn Lasky of Endicott, she is survived by son Edward Eckert of Manassas, Va., nine grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.

Community roots

A native of Endicott, Mary Bilek grew up across McKinley Avenue from Albert Eckert, who would become her husband when she was 19 and he was 21.

"My mom came from a Catholic family, and my father was Protestant," Lasky said. "They weren't allowed to get married in the church, they had to get married in the rectory. For their 50th anniversary, they renewed their vows, and the family threw them a big party with a wedding cake.

"She was thrilled," Kasky recalled. "She said, 'this is my wedding.'"

Mary's parents were one of the founding Slovak families of St. Joseph Parish. They bought statuary and stained glass windows, and contributed to the shrine, her daughters said. Faith was a cornerstone for Mary, they said, who was a lifelong member of the parish and its altar rosary society.

"She said the rosary every day," Lorenz said. "Not once, usually two or three times a day, and always before she went to bed at night."

Lorenz said her mother was famous in and outside their home for her holiday baking.

"My mom made all the Slovak cookies, kolachi, buchty, for the holidays," she said.

She and her sister agreed: their efforts never quite taste as good as their mother's. Moreover, Mary would send Albert out to share the bounty.

"My father bragged about them," Lasky said. "He hung out at a garage — a filling station in those days — he would take some there, to our family doctor, to the golf course. He used to go to — it's Consol's now but then it was Duff's hot pies. Everybody looked forward to my mom's cookies at the holidays."

Faith and family

Mary worked at Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corp. until the children were born, then stayed home with them until Lasky, the youngest, was well into elementary school. She worked at Grand Way department store in Endicott. Even while working nights, her presence was felt at home during dinnertime.

"She would make a meal before she left and would put it on a timer in the oven," Lasky said. "Dad and I would eat dinner, and she would come home."

She worked in menswear at Grand Way, then joined Burt's department store, where she worked until retirement. She spent time in the intimates section, which often meant giving advice to out-of-their-depth and easily flustered husbands.

"She'd tell us these stories and have us all laughing," Lorenz said. "Like at Christmas, she'd ask a customer for his wife's size, and he'd use his hands to show her shape."

In addition to traveling to Catholic shrines, Mary saw Pope John XXIII in Rome, and went to Yankee Stadium when Pope Paul VI made the first-ever papal visit to the United States.

"For only having an eighth-grade education and never getting a driver's license, she didn't let that stop her from going everywhere," Lorenz said.

When Lorenz' daughter performed with the U-E high school band at the Rose Bowl Parade, Mary was there. She visited South America with her sisters. In Morocco, she almost became a permanent resident, by accident.

"She was on a tour and stepped away to buy me a souvenir, and when she turned around the tour group had left, and nobody in the market spoke English," Lasky said. "Then a man appeared next to her, said he knew where the tour was going, hailed her a cab and spoke to the driver, and he got her back to the tour. She always said it was her guardian angel who appeared."

Family and faith were most important to Mary, her daughters said, but if there was a third thing on the list, it would be sports. She took one grandchild a year to Yankees opening day. She was an avid and accomplished bowler, and it ran in the family. Her brother Dan Bilek is in the Triple Cities bowling hall of fame, and she bowled in a league for years with two nieces and her daughters.

"We grew up in a sports family," Lasky said. "She loved Joe Namath and the Jets. Later she loved the Buffalo Bills and Jim Kelly. She never missed a Notre Dame football game. She would call one of us to get the station and time it would be on so she could watch."

She believed that Sundays were for rest and for Mass, her daughters said, though football could also fit in.

She was fortunate to have so many descendants, and they were fortunate to have her example, Lorenz said.

"The most important thing she taught is how important your family is," she said. "She didn't do much bragging. She loved her grandkids and great grandkids. They were everything to her."